A Choice
by WhatSup121
Summary: "You'll fit right in." A single choice can change everything. And a single choice can have drastic consequences, and Peter will discover how difficult it can make his life. Peter makes a different choice at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming.
1. A Different Path

**Well, saw Spider-Man:Homecoming, it was AMAZING, but there is one part that I wish was different. So here I am now. Last chance, SPOILERS AHEAD. Oh, and for the suit details, I'm going off of memory so don't blame me when you see the movie, the movie only showed it for a couple seconds.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Spider-Man or any other characters, or stuff from the movies**

"No"

"Are you sure, Peter? Once you say no, you say no."

"No… Actually, Mr. Stark, I think I would like to join the Avengers. On one condition, I still live and work mostly in New York. Then I could come out here, train, and do missions. I feel like I could help a lot of people as an Avenger, but I still want to help out the little people, you know?"

"Totally, kid, now get dressed so we can go talk to those reporters. You've finally made it to the big leagues." Tony smirked entering the back room filled with mobs of reporters.

Peter whistled. His new suit looked so cool. The suit had a couple of major differences from his current (or old, depending on if you count when Tony took it away) suit. For one, the black spider on the front was no longer tiny, it is now gigantic, the black legs of the spider trailing all the way around the suit. It also seemed as if his lenses had become somewhat larger. The same red and blue were there, but somehow the suit just gave off a futuristic kind of feel. As Peter finished looking over these upgrades, he stared at the new mask in his hands, slightly nostalgic.

"I guess I'm an Avenger now," Peter talked to himself. "I just started being Spider-Man eight months ago. This is happening so fast, but I can help so many people. Come on, Parker, pull it together. Its the day I've been waiting for, to _finally become an Avenger_ , be in the _big leagues_."

After just a few more seconds of gaining self-confidence, Peter pulled on the mask becoming Spider-Man. He walked straight into the room.

 _"How is Spider-Man going to be involved with the Avengers after this point?"_

 _"Are you finally going to show your true identity?"_

 _"Is the Menace finally apprehended?"_

 _"Will you help track down the rogue Avengers?"_

 _"Who will protect New York?"_

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to welcome you all here. I promise all of—most of your questions will be answered. As you can see, Spider-Man is now an Avenger. Thank you," Tony said in his concise way of speaking to reporters.

The crowd surged forward, grabbing out, each reporter desperate to get their own scoop. Spider-Man froze, clearly not used to the paparazzi.

"And let's go, kid" Tony said clearly done with the press.

So he grabbed Peter and pulled him away from the clingy press.

"Ugh, reporters never change, tell them one thing, and they go gaga over it. At least I was civilized, Pepper made me. Anyways, now I can take you to your room."

" _My room?_ I have my own room? No way!"

"Of course you do, what, did you think I sold off my tower because I needed money? I'm a genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist. Key word _billionaire_ , I'm not just going to make everyone _share._ _Ew_. I don't even think I know how to share. So yes, you have your _own_ room."

"Wow. Thank you. I don't even know what to say." Peter stammered.

"You didn't have to say anything. You're Welcome."

They walked down a series of hallways, Tony pointing out various rooms, the training room, kitchen, and weapons room (where they store the suits), just to mention a few. Finally, they arrived to Peter's room, which happened to be right next to Vision's.

"Yeah, so as I mentioned earlier when we were talking about you joining the Avengers, your room is next to Vision's. He lacks personal borders, just warning. He might pop out through the wall. He's still getting used to Earth customs. Gotta go, I have Accords stuff to do." Tony then briskly walked out of the room.

Peter flopped down on the bed, which was the only piece of furniture in the room, seeing as it was up to him to decorate it. It was then that he finally realized.

 _"I'm actually an Avenger."_

 **And done. I think. For this chapter yes. Well I don't know. Should I keep this a one-shot or make this multi-chaptered? I already have ideas for some other chapters of this. Anyways, feel free to leave me advice, I have written much of these. Bye!**


	2. Encountering Avengers

**Soooo…. I've decided, I am going to try to make this multi-chaptered. First time writing one so lets see how this goes :)**

Peter woke up the next morning left in a daze, _still_ quite not believing he was an Avenger, one of the greatest heroes of all time, that he now has to use his great power for responsibility of the world.

"Crap," Peter cursed as he bolted straight up from the bed. "I forgot to tell Aunt May where I was going!"

He quickly dialed her number, immediately put it on speaker, and waited, shoving his face in his palms while the phone rang.

"This is bad, _really, really bad_. She's probably called like twenty different police stations, all of my friends, maybe even the whole city-"

 _"Hello?"_

"Uhhh- Hey, Aunt May. H-how are you doing?" Peter chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

 _"PETER! I thought you died! You are lucky that Ned ended up calling me late last night saying you were spending the night at his house."_

"Um yeah, right, I spent the night at Ned's" _Note to self, I owe Ned one._ "I'm sorry, I completely lost track of time, Tony took me to his new workplace since he sold Avengers Tower off. He ended up showing me around, which took up about most of yesterday and then… I somehow got to… Ned's… house" Peter half-lied through his teeth.

 _"Tony? Tony Stark? I thought you lost the internship?"_ Aunt May asked slightly confused.

"Ohh, yeah, I might have gotten that back" He admitted sheepishly.

 _"What! This is great! Peter, you could have told me earlier, I wouldn't have gotten so angry and worried."_

"Yeah, I had to prove I was capable to Mr. Stark, but after I did, he offered me back the internship. One requirement though is that I have to go upstate every weekend to help out at their new headquarters."

 _"Of course you can go up every weekend, I just want to make sure you have all the opportunity you can get. It's never too early to be thinking about college you know,"_

 _College, normal teenage stuff, Aunt May shouldn't have to deal with all of this,_ Peter felt slightly guilty. _She just worries for me, and wants me to be happy, I should tell her._

"Aunt May… There's something I want to tell you,"

 _"Okay, what is it?"_

" …..Ummm…"

 _"Peter, you can tell me anything, I will always love you, no matter what."_

"I just wanted to say…." _Come on! Tell her who you are, that you're Spider-Man._ "I love you, and I want to thank you for all that you do for me." Peter finished, mentally berating himself for not uttering three words, _I am Spider-Man_.

 _"I love you too. So, I will see you at home for our usual Saturday night home cooked meal?"_

"Yeah I will-AHH!" Someone had walked through the wall.

 _"Peter, what's going on? Are you okay?"_

The android, who Peter now recognized as Vision, studied him intently, "I see that you are the newest recruit, Spider-"

Peter quickly cut him off, his phone was still on speaker. "Yeah, I'm fine Aunt May, ….. uhhh… Ned slipped while getting out of the shower…. And his towel fell down. I have to go, I'll see you later. Bye!" He ended the call.

"Dude, so not cool! My Aunt doesn't know I'm Spider-Man."

"Was I supposed to use the door?"

"Yeah," It dawned on Peter that Vision was a newly created android. "But it's okay. You can walk through walls?"

"Of course, the Infinity stone on my head enables me many different abilities."

"Woah that's awesome!" Peter fired question after question, Vision barely managing to answer them, looking as uncomfortable as an android could be.

…..

"There you are kiddo!" Tony burst through the door. "We are having a group training session, it's time you actually get to meet the Avengers, well the legit ones anyways."

Spider-Man and Vision stared at him.

"Oh so I see you met Vision, told you he lacks personal space, but we're working on that. Wait, did you sleep in the suit?"

Peter touched his face, feeling the texture of his new mask. "Oh," He shrugged. "Not the first time I've done it."

"…Okay… Come on, let's go before we have a furious Black Widow on our hands."

…..

Peter gaped in awe. The training room was huge, Peter had expected it to be, but he didn't expect this. They had walked all the way to another building of Avenger's Compound. It seemed to be that each Avenger had their own gym fit with equipment that matched their style of fighting. The actual training room was an arena for Avengers to spar against each other.

"Hey, Spidey, wanna see your gym?" Tony smirked.

Peter could only numbly nod, still amazed by all the perks of being an Avenger. Tony led him down a hallway with labels on each doorway to each gym.

"Let's just skip right past these few," Tony gestured to a couple of labels covered in slight dust.

 _Captain America, Hawkeye, Falcon, Scarlet Witch,_ Peter read the labels. "Are we going to have to hunt them down?"

"I hope not, Underoos," Tony seemed somewhat downtrodden. "But let's not talk about that, okay?"

They walked down the long hall in silence.

"Well, here we are."

Peter's jaw dropped to the floor. Half of his gym was on the roof, obviously personally made for him. There was gymnastics equipment, weights, mats, punching bags, basically anything he could ever think of needing.

"…I…..I don't think I could possibly ever use all of this."

"You can and you will. Who knows how many psychotic and mentally unstable villains are out there?"

"Wow, again, thank you. This new suit, room, gym….. just being an Avenger, this is amazing."

"No need to thank me, just passing the Avenger mantle to the next generation. Now, we really need to get back. I hope Nat takes out her frustration on the punching bags and not us."

…..

"Seriously, Tony? You brought the kid?"

"You did say we are having an _Avenger_ training session."

"Yeah, but we didn't exactly have a vote on whether or not to make _him_ one. He's just a kid."

"I am the _leader._ I tried to resign from the position, but _no_ , I'm forced back into the position after the Accords. _You betrayed us_ , you don't get a say in this. You're lucky that even though you backstabbed _us all_ , I still consider you a friend and convinced Ross not to send you to the Raft, in some Supermax floating ocean pokey. So you don't get a say in this."

"Uhhh, I'm sorry to interrupt, but it's not worth it to argue over me, and aren't there supposed to be more of us?" Peter gestured to the mostly empty training arena, consisting of Tony, Natasha, Vision, and himself.

"Rhodey's still doing physical therapy for his paralyzation, he's trying to get used to his new high tech leg braces. Wakanda wanted it's king back, so T'Challa is in Wakanda. Steve and his little band of Merry Men are fugitives, and the UN is chasing them down. As you can see, we are short on recruitment." Tony bitterly pointed out to Natasha.

"Fine. I'll help train him, if he dies, that's on you."

…..

Peter crashed to the ground for what seemed like the thousandth time.

"Again"

Spider-Man slowly got off the ground, wincing at the bruises he had gained in the last two hours, and sent a flying roundhouse kick at Black Widow. She quickly grabbed his foot, twisted it, and Spidey quickly met his demise lying face first on the ground.

"You have to learn to expect the unexpected. Keep on your toes, don't rely completely on your spider-sense, it's helpful to have, but there are ways to over counter it. Make yourself unpredictable."

"Got it, but if you don't mind, is it okay if I leave now? I can come back, but I have to get back to New York City by dinner, and it takes at the very least four to five hours to get back. Aunt May hates it when I'm late and" Peter glanced at the clock. "…..It's already two."

Black Widow sighed, "Go, but be here every weekend. You'll need all the training you can get."

Peter jumped off the ground running back to his room , hurrying to take off his suit. After he changed, currently wearing the clothes he wore yesterday, he balled his new suit up and tossed it in his backpack.

"Well, you seem to be in a rush to get somewhere." A certain billionaire was leaning in the doorway.

"Great, you're here, Mr. Stark. Do you think you could get Happy to take me back to New York?"

"Sure, whatever you need."

"Oh, and is Karen still in my suit?" Peter had pushed past Tony, half-way out the door.

"Karen?"

"The A.I."

"Yeah, why would I ever take it out?"

"Okay, uhh- can you by chance take the Instant Kill mode out? I don't kill."

"Later, kiddo, not when you're rushing to meet your incredibly hot aunt."

"No, gross, no, no, _no_ , not with my _aunt_ " Peter shut down any fantasy of Tony dating his aunt. With that, Peter left, getting in a car with Happy. Ready to suffer through a _long_ drive.

 **I'll try to update once a week, if not every other week. I still want to hang out with friends, go to tumbling class, do homework, watch Netflix, read a couple books, and write some one-shots so I think once a week will be best. Oh, and i'll be trying to add more length to these chapters, like this chapter I doubled the amount of words I wrote last time :)**

 **Thank you guys so much! For all the reviews, favorites, follows, everything, I'll see you guys next week :)**


	3. A Regular Average Day

**Ugh… I give all my documents on my computer code names and it's super hard to keep track of which document is which. Anyways next week i'll be on vacation so i'm either going to make this chapter really long or post two this week.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own**

"Do you think Mr. Stark has a suit car?" Peter had been annoying Happy for _hours_.

"A suit car?" Happy exasperated.

"You know, like a car that turns into a suit. Everything else Mr. Stark owns is a suit. His watch, his suitcase,—"

"Ok, _ok_ , I get it, stop rambling."

"When do you think my next mission is? Now that I'm an Avenger I'll bet that I'll be able to do all kinds of missions."

"Kid, shut up."

"Did your mom name you Happy because you were a happy child? I'm certainly not getting that kind of vibe from you."

"Kid, look, I'm grateful you saved my job and everything, but if you don't shut up right now I'm going to explode."

Peter immediately stopped talking, he didn't exactly want Happy to hate him.

"…..One last question, is this how every week is going to go?"

"Yes," Happy promptly shut the window separating the passenger seats from the front seats.

"Why do all of our conversations end up like this?" Peter mumbled to himself.

Silence answered him for the rest of the ride.

…..

After a couple hours of sitting alone in his thoughts, the car came to a stop.

"Finally!" Peter jumped out, he was feeling more than a bit hyperactive after sitting still so long.

Happy rolled down his window. "Ok, here's the deal, be here every Friday as soon as you get out of school, bring a bag, you'll be staying all weekend. You may be an Avenger, but you're still an irresponsible kid. No missions until you're ready." The limo drove off back to Avenger's Compound, leaving Peter eating dust.

" _Hey!_ I'm not _just_ some irresponsible kid! I did manage to take down the flying vulture guy…. After I got beat up…. A lot…..But that's not the point! I am responsible! I can handle doing missions!" Peter called out after the limo, but he was too late, Happy was long gone.

Huffing, Peter walked into his apartment building, going up five flights of stairs to reach his and Aunt May's apartment. Opening the door, the aroma of a home cooked dinner filled out the entire living room.

"Aunt May! I'm home!" Peter called out, checking his watch, he had made it on time for once.

Aunt May walked out of the kitchen wearing an apron. "Peter, you're here. I made your favorite, spaghetti and meatballs. I couldn't figure out that other recipe, I kept burning it, but we did go out to get larb last time so that wasn't a complete disaster."

"Aunt May, I'll love anything you will cook." Peter complimented, but slightly grimaced at the thought of some "new" recipes she had tried out over the years.

Peter quickly washed his hands, Aunt May made it a rule to always clean up before dinner, or any meal in fact. They sat down and ate in silence, with the occasional offhand comment here and there. Which was kind of unusual, Peter is talkative, and with recent events, he should be elated. Peter felt guilt, he could have done better. Mr. Delmar's grocery store is in complete ruins, and the whole entire coast is trashed, debris littering the beach, and blackened sand from the fire.

"Is Mr. Delmar going to be alright?" In the adrenaline and stress filled week he had, he forgot to check up on how his friend was doing.

"I think so, he was just telling me earlier that he would've had to close the store down if the DODC (Department of Damage Control) didn't take care of it. His insurance didn't cover the damage. Now, I don't exactly trust that Tony Stark, but that was a pretty good thing for him to do paying for the DODC to help people like him."

Peter sighed in relief, it would've killed him inside if Mr. Delmar had to lose his business, because Peter couldn't stop some bank robbers. He hated to think that he could have destroyed a family, he couldn't let that happen, _not again_ , not after Uncle Ben. Speaking of which, he had to make sure he kept his oath to himself.

"Hey, um.. Aunt May, I have to get some homework done. Is it okay if I go up to my room to do it?" Peter had finished eating during the silence that had filled the room.

"Yeah, of course. There's just one thing I want you to promise me. I know that you love that internship with Stark, but I just want to make sure he's not taking advantage of you. I want you to promise me that you'll stand up to him if he ever does that."

Peter was confused. "Uhhh… Sexually?"

"No, I mean your talent and hard work. You spend so much time helping him, and you're such a smart boy. I don't want some playboy taking the amazing person that you are, and molding you into something that you're not."

"T-thanks," Peter stuttered, praise felt foreign, he was used to constant critiques and lectures from the people around him. "I promise, Aunt May, but Mr. Stark only wants to help me reach my full potential. If he tries anything, I promise I will tell you about it."

"Ok, now go on, you have homework to do."

"Yes ma'am," If only Peter was _actually_ going to do homework.

…..

"Wooohoooo!" Peter loved the feeling of swinging, he guessed it came from being part genetically spider.

"Help!" His enhanced senses picked up a young woman calling out in an upcoming alley.

Two men were cornering the young woman. Though now that Spidey had them in his sights, he could tell why. The young woman was scantily clad, yet rich looking, she happened to have a large wad of cash sticking out of her purse. A double score for thugs and perverts, the perfect prey. Other than that, it was a classic armed robbery, the two guys could have been from an movie. One man had a black ski mask, beige jacket, loose blood red T-shirt, and baggy jeans on. The other wore a dark blue hoodie with the hood covering his face, and baggy grey sweatpants.

"Give us the money," Hoodie threatened, gesturing the gun towards her purse.

"Yeah, we promise we won't hurt ya," Ski mask said in a sickening sweet way, you could see the greed flickering in his eyes.

"Are you sure about that?" Peter was sitting on the edge of a fire escape above them.

Both thugs noticeably jumped at the new voice that greeted them, looking quite frightened as they looked all around them, trying to figure out where he was. The two men hadn't noticed that they had inched closer to each other, quivering in fear.

Peter laughed, the sound echoing all throughout the alley. "Why does no one ever look up?"

The muggers looked up only for both to be kicked in the face, landing straight on their butts. Spidey quickly webbed them to the sticky and muddy ground.

"Amateurs." Peter was slightly annoyed, these thieves had taken up some of his time, and they were harassing this young woman. "Are you alright?"

The woman could only nod, she was still in shock.

"Okay, call the police. They'll take care of these two." Spider-Man quickly swung off, he had a long night ahead of him.

…..

After that, Spider-Man dealt with two muggings, a bank robbery, a small fight between minor gangs, a couple of drunks, and a kitten stuck in a tree before he got back to his apartment. The muggings and bank robbery were simple to fix, he just webbed up the felons and left them for the police.

The gang fight got a little bit more complicated, as the gang members of each clan _really_ wanted to kill each other. It took a lot of talking on Spider-Man's behalf to get them to lower their guns, he ended up having to let them go free, it was the only way the gangs agreed not to unleash any bloodshed. The gangs weren't the only ones in the precinct, there happened to be a couple civilians around, Peter couldn't take the risk. He was fine with letting them go, he had already secretly put a spider tracer on each gang leader.

The drunks had actually been more difficult to put up with than the gang members. Spidey had kept trying to take the pair to a police officer or just someone in general that could help them get sober. Unfortunately, the two adamantly slung their arms around him, calling him Joe? According to the lengthy amount of time they spent talking to him, Spider-Man deduced that they had way too much to drink that day. No matter what he did he couldn't get the men to stop clinging to him. Eventually, he finally managed to find a friendly police officer who offered to take them off the sheepish superhero's hands and back to their homes.

What surprised Peter the most is how hard it was to get the cat out of the tree. The animal had hated him, and he had no idea why. At first, he had tried coaxing it down the tree, he figured it'd be more of a hassle for the both of them if he had to climb up there. Regrettably, the cat refused his pleas. Spider-Man had to go up the tree and bring the screeching animal down. His old homemade suit would have been torn to bits if he had been wearing it. Fortunately, his new suit happened to be more durable than what he used to wear, so when the cat had attacked him there was no damage made onto his suit. Although, the struggle he had made was all worth it when he gave the cat back to his owner, a little girl at the age of four. The little girl had given Spidey a tight hug and screamed her happiness at the rescue of her pet.

Taking off his mask, Peter glanced at the clock. It was three in the morning. He groaned, if he was any other teen he would have just slept in, it was a Sunday after all. Peter wasn't a regular teenager, he was Spider-Man, and he just happened to patrol the city every morning.

Some people would say to take break, just relax for once, but the deal was, _he couldn't_. Breaks get people _killed_. That's how Uncle Ben died, Peter didn't stop the crook. Everytime Spider-Man takes a break, there's a chance someone died because _he wasn't there_. His motto, with great power comes great responsibility made sure he was there to help, he wouldn't stand on the sidelines ever again. So, just like every other day, Peter set his alarm for six. At most, he could sleep three hours. He quickly pushed the release button on his chest, tossed his uniform aside, and jumped in bed.

…..

Sure enough, his alarm went off at six, jolting him out of his dreams. The constant shrieks of the alarm making him fall onto the floor.

"Ugh," Peter grumbled, he had not so graciously landed on the hard wood floor of his room.

Getting up, Peter quickly got ready and into his Spider-Man suit, he had a day of patrolling ahead of him.


	4. Consequences

**Did you guys see the new cover! I drew it up on the plane, I mean it's not my usual style, but I really like it. Anyways, I'm back, but I'm gonna write this quick cause I have yet another trip to go on. I will be back by next week though, so while this chapter may be a little shorter than usual but I will try to post longer next week :)**

Peter can honestly say he loved helping the people of New York, even if they don't quite love him back. Although, sometimes he got quite fed up with the criminals.

"Come on, man. Turn yourself in, trust me it'll be better for your sake." Spider-Man was currently trying to negotiate with a bank robber, the man was holding a hostage.

The poor child looked like she was going to cry, the robber holding a fistful of her hair with one hand, and the gun pointed at her head with the other. Peter was trying to give the man a better option, but alas criminals never took the easy way out.

"N-no, I can't, I have a family, man. They're counting on me, I lost my job, I can't let them starve." The robber looked to be about thirty to forty years old, shaking with fear. In doing so, the man slightly lowered the gun.

Spider-Man took the opportunity and webbed the gun to himself. "There's a better way to go about this, there are people that can help you through this. You don't need to go around harming people, especially this little girl. You're just disappointing your family this way, not helping them. Be better, don't resort to this, I get that times get tough, but you don't succumb to the world, you rise above it."

The man looked downwards, gently letting go of the little girl, feeling quite guilty. "I… Can't.." And with that he reached into his back pocket and pulled out some sort of can, spraying it at Spider-Man.

Quickly, Spidey knocked the can out of his hand to the side, pushed the man to the ground, and webbing him up in the process. The man had no real fighting experience at all, making it easy for Spider-Man to win the fight.

"You know… I could have helped you… Now, I can't do anything." Peter wished the man had taken him up on his offer. Now the man was going into the system, Peter would have no jurisdiction there. After all, he was a vigilante, meaning he was technically wanted for arrest.

Not saying anything else he walked over to the mystery can the man had sprayed at him, examining it.

"You've got to be kidding me."

Right in Peter's hands was a can of insecticide.

"I'm not even an insect! I'm an arachnid!"

…..

"Dude, I got detention for being in the computer lab during Homecoming."

"You did come up with a pretty bad excuse, even I wouldn't come up with that. Besides, you wanted to be the man in the chair."

"I thought it would be cooler!"

"You still wanted to do it."

"Yeah…." Ned admitted, pausing afterwards. "Wait! You became an Avenger over the weekend! Bro, it was all over the news! You've got to be like the coolest person at this school now."

"Yeah, but again, I can't tell anyone. I have a secret identity for a reason. It took you this long to remember I became an Avenger? I thought the media was eating it up. I heard it was everywhere." Peter and Ned were dodging incoming students in the hallway on their way to eighth period.

"Oh, yeah the media loved it, but they were more interested in criticizing you, especially the Daily Bugle."

"What?!" Peter was shocked, he thought that after he became an Avenger, people would start respecting him. _I'm just trying to help people_ , he was a little bitter that people weren't appreciating his efforts to help. Then again, he did mistake that guy the other day for a car thief.

"Here, let me pull it up." Ned got his phone out and handed it to Peter as they stopped outside the doorway to their next class, Algebra II.

Peter glances at the headlines as fast as he could before the bell rang.

 _Spider-Man Destroys Neighborhood's Backyards_

 _The Menace Terrifies Young Girls!_

 _Shocker Escapes Custody As Soon As Spider-Man Put Him There_

 _Spidey Supposedly Breaks Out Shocker?!_

T _he Newest Avenger Destroys Property_

 _Tony Stark Covering Up Rookie's Mistakes?_

 _Why Hasn't Spider-Man Complied With The Accords?!_

Peter winced, the public doesn't seem to be his best fan currently.

Ned patted Peter on the back, comforting him. "At least Flash is still a fan of Spider-Man… And you stole his car."

…..

"Hello, Tony Stark here." Tony answered his phone.

 _"Stark, you added a new Avenger. He has to comply-"_

"General Ross! You called me just so I could put you on hold! How kind of you, now I can watch the button blink."

 _"Stark! Don't you dare do this again! This is a serious-"_

"And you're on hold." Tony pushed the button, amused that he could make General Ross so angry.

…..And then there was pounding on the door.

"Stark! Don't think that you can fool me again! Now, open up!"

Tony sighed, and went to open the door. "Why hello there. Something important you needed?" Tony snarked at the very annoyed man in front of him.

"I came here as a warning, either Spider-Man follows the accords or he becomes government property. Our federal agents are very excited to see what he is capable of, and for your sake, I wouldn't want to see him become a lab rat."

 **Btw, I just assumed what math Peter is in so I gave him the class I would be in when I'm a sophomore in a year or two. And I'm ahead in math by a year so I hope that works for this story. I've heard that he's in calculus, but I think that might be a little unrealistic. I know that Peter's super smart and I like that about him, but calculus is usually for seniors/college level.**

 **Thank you so much everyone! This has gotten so much feedback, favorites, and follows! I'm so glad people actually like this :) Again, so sorry for the short chapter, but i'm leaving straight in the morning to get on a plane. I know I keep promising and promising to make this longer and longer, lol, but I will make next week's chapter longer :)**


	5. The Rise

**Hey guys! It's been awhile….. So sorry for the wait, I promised myself that I'd finish my summer homework before I even attempted writing this.**

 **Disclaimer: There is no possible way I could ever own Marvel**

Tony's hands clenched into fists. Ross was threatening Peter. _Peter_. The kid who gets so excited for the littlest things. The kid who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. The kid that grew up too fast. _The kid_. Tony knew that Ross was talking about Spider-Man, but to him, it was all the same. It made his blood _boil_.

"What makes you think you can just come in here and _threaten me_ to do what _you want?!_ I did what you wanted, followed the accords, actually listened to someone's orders _for once!_ I went with all of your shit! And _I knew it was tearing us apart!_ I let my family crash and burn so that the government would be happy! So tell me, _Ross_ , do you _really_ want to continue threatening one of my teammates?"

For awhile, General Ross actually stood there quite shocked to see the outburst in front of him. If only for awhile, as Ross managed to have the _nerve_ to answer that hypothetical question.

"Wow, I'm actually quite appalled that you thought you could refuse a federal demand, Stark. You see, you actually had me feeling bad for you, but unfortunately for _you_ , we have agendas to keep up with. You have _two weeks_ to release the identity of Spider-Man. If you don't, I'm afraid we'll have to treat him like the criminal he is." Ross paused, thinking about adding something else to his warning speech. "Oh, and don't think I didn't hear about your efforts to rectify the accords. Captain America and his crew are _fugitives_ , _nothing_ you do can change that. You made your grave when you signed, Captain America made his when he didn't. Vigilantism cannot be tolerated. You can leave this to the government, _Stark._ "

Tony Stark had never been more infuriated in his life. He was practically shaking with rage. _Idiot_ , he berated himself. Why did he think he could trust the secretary of state? Ross was known for his decisiveness and for getting what he wanted from people. Tony should blame himself, but, _god_ , Ross was such a jerk. He almost had half a mind to punch Ross in the face. The man deserved it, and Tony doubted that it would be the first time that someone had.

It seemed that Ross picked up on Tony's fury, as his warning tone turned into snark. "Do it, I dare you."

Tony was so close, so close to losing his temper. He was angry at the world. His father. Himself. Just as he had gained a family that he loved, they were torn away from him. He just had to screw it up. Now Peter is paying the price. There is nothing he could do, and that was eating him alive. Nothing. Unless…

"Just leave, Ross. You've gotten your point along. There's nothing here for you." Tony was bitter, but he had just gotten a stroke of an ingenious idea.

Now, Ross just had to leave for him to put his plan into action. Peter may not like the idea, but at least he would be safe.

"Two weeks," Ross couldn't get the threat out enough.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Reveal the identity or Spider-Man gets it. Now get out before I lose it." Tony was less angry and more anxious to get his plan started.

He wasn't even sure it would work. Well, of course it would work, but he needed an old ally, and the former friend of his might not want to help. So, slightly shoving Ross out, he slammed the door in his face. Tony briskly walked to his desk, and pulled out an old burner phone. Shutting a door behind him, Tony locked himself into one of the many private conference rooms located in the Avengers facility.

Looking at the phone now, he felt a little remorseful for not calling him sooner, but all that pain from his mothers death had resurfaced. His father never seemed to ever give him a second glance or thought, his mother on the other hand, she truly cared about him. She loved him with all her heart. So when he found out who had killed his mother in cold blood, he lost it. To top it off, his best friend had refused to admit to him that he had known all along. So, Tony could say that he had a pretty good excuse for putting off this confrontation as long as he had.

He had already created a new prototype shield as amends for when they would finally make up and get over their issues. At least the shield will be getting some use out of it. To be frank, Tony wasn't even sure he would get around to calling him. Although, this call technically wasn't even for him. He needed to do this. _For Peter_. It was the only choice left. Taking a deep breath, he dialed the only number saved on the burner phone.

"Hello? Yeah, this is Tony. Look, I need a favor. You know Spider-Man? The kid I brought to the airport? Yes, the one from Queens. He's in trouble and I need your help."

 _If only he didn't._

…..

"You got what I need?"

"Pretty much everything,"

"Pretty much?" A man wearing a black jacket with yellow sleeves questionably glowered at his short and stubby companion.

"Hey! It takes awhile to make these gadgets. They are complex pieces of technology, not just anyone can piece together alien and human tech. I couldn't get everything together in such a short amount of time, but I got what you will need." His friend handed him what looked to be yellow and orange armor.

"Good. The Spider is going to get what's coming to him, one way or another."

"This will definitely do the trick, I had to tinker around with it for awhile before I got it to work. Any attack from Spider-Man will immediately be absorbed, then thrown back at him. You'll basically be _invincible_. Almost like a mutant."

…..

"Please? I know, I'm wrong." Tony paused, interrupted by the person on the other side. "Yes, I was wrong. Don't make me retract that apology, and this is an apology. You're not getting a better one out of me."

Tony was exasperated, he knew when he was being toyed with. Besides, his friend would never outright refuse a plea for help, he was too patriotic. _Really patriotic._ He would wear the flag if he had too, in fact, he wore already wore parts of it.

"This is _urgent._ How urgent? Like someone's going to be dissected if you don't come over here and get him out of the country. Yeah, and I don't think we want another Weapon X. One already gives me a migraine, and he stinks up my tower."

…..

 **Does anyone remember when I mentioned Tony went to work on Accords stuff in the first chapter? Everything has a purpose if its written :)**

 **Ok, so I was going to aim for a 3,000 to 5,000 word chapter but school has been crazy so I'm gonna post what I have right now since I have a pretty good stopping point. Next time, i'll try to write a super long chapter I promise. I'm so sorry for the wait! You guys have been super patient.**

 **Anyways from now on I will be replying to reviews on private messaging so I won't make authors notes so long. Guest reviews will still be at the bottom.**

 **Lw117149- He was close too, I really wanted to make them get in a fight, but I have a backup plan and Ross needs to be non suspicious :)**

 **Spathi- Idk I still can't decide, lol. I'll just see where it goes :)**

 **Soup- I gotta agree Dominos pizza is really good :)**

 **Guest- You were gonna get your answer in this chapter but hopefully it will be next. Don't worry, I'm really excited for what I have planned, its looking pretty good.**

 **Thank you so much!**

 **Oh and since I made you guys wait so long there is also another story I started called Show Off, if you guys want you can go check it out :)**


	6. Mending Broken Bridges

"Pucker! Puny Pete!"

 _Yay, more nicknames._ Peter sarcastically thought to himself, slamming his locker shut. He was getting ready to bolt through the crowd to the exit when a hand on his shoulder stopped him firmly in place.

"So, have you heard about the new girl?" Flash smirked knowingly at his rival.

"Uh…No. Can I leave now?" Peter wanted to get a few hours of patrolling in before Happy came and picked him up. It was a Friday after all. He knew Happy told him to be waiting as soon as he got out of school but the good people of New York needed Spider-Man.

Peter assumed that since he had already packed his bag the night before, and it took quite a bit of time to drive from the Compound to New York, he could fit approximately an hour in before Happy got annoyed. Hopefully, Happy would be patient. Peter wouldn't put it past the man to leave him behind, even if it was his job to be a chauffeur.

Flash huffed. "If you haven't, then you've been living in a ditch. Come on, you have to know something."

Peter was getting frustrated, Flash clearly wanted to prove that he was better than him. It didn't matter what it was, Flash always needed something to hold over Peter's head.

"No, I don't. To be honest, I don't care. Do I look like the most popular guy in the school? No. So why are you really here?" Peter _really_ needed to leave now if he wanted to fit some patrolling in.

"Actually, I'm showing the new girl around, _Flash_."

Peter and Flash both turned to see MJ standing with a blonde girl around their own age.

"I am Felicia's student body ambassador and I am to show her around the school. Now, if you two idiots would be so kind to get out of our way?" MJ gestured to the school's exit. The blonde next to her, Felicia, laughed quietly at the sheepish expressions on the boys faces.

"See? Problem solved. Now, I'll be on my way…" Peter trailed off as he started walking away.

"Wait, if you wouldn't mind," the new girl nodding to MJ, "I would like them to come with us, it would be good for me to meet some of the students here." She smiled at Peter and Flash.

 _Oh great, this is taking way too much time._ Peter thought to himself, annoyed that no one would let him leave.

…..

"Hey, kid, call me back when you get this. This is urgent."

…..

"Kid? I know Happy's already bringing you to the compound today, but _I need you to call me._ "

…..

"Fine. You're not answering, regular teenage rebellion, I get it. Just pack your bag with everything you need for a long trip. I'll see you when you get here."

…..

Herman Schultz pulled on his boots, gauntlets, and his new suit given to him by Phineas Mason, or the Tinkerer, as he was called in their little group of alien tech scavengers. He loved the feeling it gave him, the cool texture of the gloves, the heavy weight of insulated padding, and the _power_. He may not have been the original Shocker, but at least he knew how to follow orders and use his power wisely, unlike his crew-mate.

Toomes was going to give them all the means to settle down after he hijacked Tony Stark's cargo plane, but those plans came to an end after Spider-Man put Vulture and him in jail. They spent months planning for that heist, years stealing tech, and it was all ruined by _one_ brat. He just wanted to get the money. That's all he needed. _They were so close._ He was going to get that spider one way or another. He would not let some punk kid get in the way of him and his big score.

He was going to get his money, and if a spider got in his way? He's going to exterminate it.

…..

Steve wasn't quite sure what he was doing. Well, he knew he was helping the spider-kid, or spider-ling, or whatever his name was. Tony kept using all sorts of different names for the kid and it was giving him a headache just thinking about it, but _what was he doing?_ Here he was, sitting in the compound, risking everything he has put into defying the Accords. For all he could know Ross was in the room next to him. Tony could still be angry at him.

 _"Sorry, Tony. You know I wouldn't do this if I had any other choice. But he's my friend." He was desperate, he wanted Tony to know why this was so important to him. Bucky had needed him, and Steve wasn't there for him when he was brainwashed by Hydra. He wasn't going to let Bucky be framed for something he didn't do. Not when Steve has the opportunity to do something._

 _"So was I." The betrayal was clear in Tony's voice._

Steve winced at the memory, but hopefully he could be there for the kid. Maybe the next generation of heroes could learn from their mistakes, have less issues. Maybe they won't split apart, or crumble under pressure. Steve brought a hand up to his forehead as he felt a slight wetness near his eyes.

 _"This isn't going to change what happened."_

 _"I don't care. He killed my mom."_

Steve looked up as Tony walked in the room.

"Ugh, the kid is not answering his phone." The billionaire threw his hands up in frustration. "What kind of teenager doesn't answer their phone?! I mean aren't they supposed to be on them all the time?"

…..

"Uh, I'd love to stay and help but I really have to go. You know, Stark internship and everything. Bye." Peter stuttered awkwardly, he never was good at talking to girls.

The new girl waved at him with a smile. "It was nice meeting you, Peter."

"See ya, loser," MJ was already walking away, with Felicia and Flash right behind her.

As he was walking, Flash turned his head back to look at Peter and quietly mouthed with a smirk "I win."

Peter scowled, _it wasn't even a competition! I am not flirting with the new girl, and I don't even have time for a girlfriend. I'm Spider-Man, and I'm responsible for this city._ He quickly glanced at the watch on his wrist and he sighed, he definitely did not have time for a full patrol. _But, that doesn't mean I cant swing back to my apartment._

And with a smirk he went running off into the nearest alley.

And Spider-Man came running out. With a flick of his wrist he took off into the sky, swinging from building to building.

 **Well… its been awhile. I meant to post sooner and I promise I did not forget about this story. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read, favorite, and post a review! I will try to post the next chapter soon :)**


	7. A Shocking Revelation

Peter loved web-slinging throughout the city. The rush of adrenaline pumping through his veins was always a welcome distraction from his school troubles: Flash.

Plus, swinging through the city was always much faster than taking the subway. Peter definitely did not miss his days of being jostled by strangers in the very tight subway train car. Peter didn't necessarily have claustrophobia but he didn't really enjoy being squeezed into close spaces with other people, especially since he gained his enhanced senses. He could feel every brush of a hand against his shirt, every stranger breathing down the back of his neck, and especially the wails of unhappy children pestering their parents, all of which made Peter extremely uncomfortable. Not to mention, once a random person had sneezed directly in his face. Reflecting on the memory, Peter flipped in the air with a disgusted shudder.

 _Ew, there was so much saliva on my face._ Peter hated to think about the microscopic organisms that had been crawling all over his face at the time. Being the science prodigy he was, he knew exactly how much bacteria there could have been all over his face, which was _a lot_. Peter knew that his accelerated healing kept him from getting sick most of the time, but that still didn't help with the gross factor of, well, _germs._

 _Gross._

But the fact was, that Peter enjoyed travel by web-slinging way more than any other method of transportation. It was faster, efficient, and so much more _fun_.

Every time he went out as Spider-Man, Peter couldn't help but add a little flourish to his swings. Sometimes it was simply a extra flip here or there, but other times he would put on full performances for whoever was standing on the street at the time. All passersby would stop and gape at the young hero in front of them. What could he say? Peter loved putting on a good show. He would flip and twist in an extravagant manner that sometimes he couldn't help but wonder how he hadn't killed himself yet. He had never had any gymnastic training, yet his body seemed to know exactly how to do these acrobatic displays. It seemed that his spider bite had given him a acrobatic prowess in the air along with his other arachnid abilities.

Suddenly mid-flip his head started buzzing, he nearly went hurtling towards the unforgiving concrete sidewalks below him in his surprise. Yelping as he lost focus on rotation in his flip, he barely managed to send out a web from his web shooters to keep himself from meeting his end as a splat on the sidewalk. His panic subsided as his web lowered him safely to the ground. Feet firmly planted on the concrete below him, Peter couldn't tear his gazed from his gloved hands, wondering what exactly he was capable of. _Well, that was certainly new,_ Peter was more shocked than anything. Maybe the spider bite did change him a little more than he thought it did. So far, Peter had never experienced anything similar to the buzzing sensation that rang through his head. But, he had also thought that he was never going to gain anymore abilities than the ones he currently possessed. Looking up, he realized that New York's skyline had disappeared.

The air was filled with smoke, dark and looming as fumes spiraled into the sky.

Peter stumbled, trying to regain his footing as vibrations ran the ground. Quickly, he took off into the air to look for the cause of his interrupted patrol. Surveying his surroundings as he swung from web to web, a subsequent explosion caught his eye. Seeing the civilians running from the area, Peter increased his pace in order to arrive at the scene faster. He wanted to prevent as much damage as he possibly could, and hopefully deal with this annoyance in his plans as soon as necessary.

Peter stifled a groan as a realization struck him, _I'm so going to be late._

Peter still had to go back to his apartment to grab his bag for his trip to the Compound. There was no doubt that Happy was already waiting out front for him. He tried to swallow the feeling of dread creeping up the back of his throat. There was no way he was going to get out of this alive. He could already see the fury on the bodyguard's face. With despair settling in his gut, Peter hoped that Aunt May would arrange his funeral with colorful flowers displayed everywhere at the event. Surely the flowers would distract his grief-stricken friends from the fact that Peter died with a look of pure fear etched on his face.

 _Death by bodyguard,_ Peter sighed sarcastically, _the most ironic but painful death imaginable._

Peter actually held back a laugh at the thought of his imminent death. _Who knew a man named Happy could have such a temper?_

Resigning himself to his fate, Spider-Man leapt into danger knowing full well that he was going to be late in meeting Happy. Seeing a figure with glowing gauntlets obscured in the smoke, he swung with a kick, knocking the perpetrator to the ground. When the smoke cleared out a little, Peter realized with a start that he recognized the criminal in front of him.

 _"You?!"_ He couldn't help himself from exclaiming in surprise.

"Didn't I just put you in jail?!" Peter practically wailed. He was sure that the universe loved to torture him

The man in front of him was the lackey that had intercepted him at school during his Homecoming, or the day that Peter had dubbed The Vulture Incident, or alternately named The Day His Date's Dad Attacked. As it turned out, meeting your girlfriend's parents really is as scary as it's made out to be from all the movies. Or even worse, in Peter's case, as he was attacked and almost _crushed by a building_ upon meeting his date's dad.

Attention back on the criminal before him, Peter realized with dismay that the man had even more technology on him than he had the week before. His electric, or _shocking_ gauntlets (Peter smiled with glee at the thought. He could never stop himself when the opportunity for a good pun presented itself to him.), crackled intensely with what seemed to be upgraded levels of power from the last time Spider-Man had seen the man. Peter flinched instinctively at the thought of his last encounter with the gauntlets, his muscles had twinged for _hours_ after being hit with the electric blasts. Peter was not looking forward to reliving the painful attacks.

Not only did Shocker have upgraded weapons, it seemed that his outfit had some changes from his last one. Not that Peter would consider it an upgrade, the colors clashed too much for his liking. The bright orange and yellow? Not the best colors for a fearsome villain. It took a considerable effort of self control for Peter not to kneel over and die of mocking laughter. _Who's laughing now Shocker?_ Peter remembered when the man had mocked him the week before for his original homemade spider suit. This was worse than his previous outfit, if the man thought this new style was cool, then he needed to get his vision checked. At least the last outfit had made him looked cool, the current one made him look like he just walked out of a Halloween costume store and chosen the worst quality costume with the brightest, tackiest colors. The Shocker? Scary? With that outfit? _Please._ Spider-Man's suit on the other hand, Peter liked to think that his colors were best suited for him. Bright and cheery, exactly like his personality. If it weren't for the Daily Bugle, he was sure that almost everyone would love him for his constantly upbeat attitude and hilarious jokes.

Well, at least Peter thought they were funny.

He couldn't judge based off of the criminals he caught on a daily basis, they were often too busy yelling things like _"Stupid bug!" "You'll never catch me!" "Ahh!"_ instead of listening to his amazing puns. It was actually kind of funny how all the criminals seemed to say the exact same phrases like clockwork. Peter idly theorized once that all these criminals purposely spread cliche phrases throughout the criminal underworld in order to annoy him to the point of giving up on his superhero career. But that was just Peter's personal theory, surely these petty burglars and thieves knew that there was no stopping Spider-Man from trying to help the city of New York.

Now, to get back to his current problem.

"Okay, let's just make this easier on everyone, so lets make a deal. You get to go right back to your cozy little cell in prison, and I get to meet up with Iron Man on time, which happens to be—" Peter pretended to check a nonexistent watch on his wrist, hoping that the mention of his mentor would instill some sort of fear in crook in front of him. "—ten minutes ago."

Well, driving to the Compound would definitely take more time than just ten minutes, but Peter was supposed to have met Happy a little while ago. He didn't have a clock on him, but Peter knew he was late already and he didn't want to be any later than he already was by dealing with the problem in front of him. He just knew he was late. _Really late._

He knew because of the feeling of terror growing in the pit of his stomach.

It was his worst fear.

He hadn't been able stop worrying about it earlier, but now that worry had changed into something else: pure distress.

It was the feeling he got when he _absolutely_ knew that Happy was going to _murder_ him.

Before he just had some anxiety over Happy killing him for being late, but he was sure that a drawn out fight with Shocker would run way past Happy's limit of patience. Once it ran out, there would be nothing stopping the bodyguard from eating Peter alive and burying six feet underground. Happy would make his life a living _hell_. There would be no stopping the man short of running to Tony Stark and shamelessly begging for him to hide him somewhere on another continent. And Peter would run out of luck with asking Tony, the billionaire would only laugh with glee at the thought of his bodyguard losing his cool over a punk teenager and grab popcorn to watch the spectacle unfold. There would be no saving Peter from his wrath then.

So, it was safe to say Peter wanted to get this fight over with as soon as possible.

The criminal in front of him chuckled darkly. "Nice try, but I haven't tried out all of my new tricks yet."

The Shocker was slowly making his way back to his feet. He brushed dust off of his new suit and pressed a button on his forearm. A sense of foreboding hit Peter and he waited for some dastardly evil weapon to send him flying into the nearest building. He waited, and waited, and waited. (In reality only a few minutes had passed, Peter was quite impatient)

…..but nothing had hit him.

"That's it?" Peter was surprised, but he wasn't complaining, this only made it easier to recapture the villain. "Well, I guess you left me _wired_ about nothing. I'm sure you won't find it _shocking_ that I'm taking you back to prison now."

"You'll have to make me." Shocker scowled, not worried in the slightest.

"Alright, if you're _positive_." Peter really loved all these electricity puns.

He ran forward with a punch, fully expecting to knock the man back to the ground. What he was not expecting, was a jolt of sharp pain to run through his arm and then suddenly he was thrown into the nearest building. The impact creating a crater in the concrete wall and a spiderweb of cracks surrounding his collision.

" _Ow._ " Peter groaned from where he was stuck in the building.

How had the Shocker deflected his attack? The man hadn't even lifted a hand to block Peter's punch and he was still sent flying into the wall. It seems that button did something after all. For all the terrible style the suit had, it sure packed a punch.

Peter shot a web out towards each of the gauntlets, webbing his hands together, and flipped over the man. Once landed, Spider-Man pulled the strands of webbing towards himself. The web dragged the Shocker backwards, the force sending him straight at Spidey.

"Now, let's try this again." Peter smirked under his mask.

This time, instead of trying to hit his suit, Spider-Man stepped to the side while swinging his arms in the same direction he turned, effectively throwing the Shocker into the wall. Coincidentally, it was the same building he had thrown Peter into earlier. _Ha. See how you like it, Shocker. Karma's a bitch._

Dust clearing, a blast came out of the smoke hitting Spider-Man in the chest. Once again, he was thrown back to the ground, his muscles spasming from the electric shock. He stumbled back to his feet as soon as he could regain control over his twitchy limbs, he wouldn't give Shocker a chance to shoot him when he was down. He needed to end this fight now.

The main problem was that he couldn't physically fight the Shocker with punches and kicks. It seemed that the technology of the suit took kinetic energy and reflected it outward in a powerful pulse in order to allow the wearer to be unaffected. _Energy can neither be created nor destroyed._ The law of Conservation of Energy ran through Peter's mind. So, he just needed to find a way to beat Shocker without touching him. Peter had been going out on a limb when he used his webs to take ahold of the gauntlets. It seemed that the sticky texture of the webs prevented them from being bounced off the suit.

Glancing towards where he had thrown the criminal, he noticed the Shocker walking slow and deliberately towards him. The criminal was obviously trying to make Spider-man feel a sense of terror at the might of the Shocker. Peter couldn't help but bark a laugh at the thought. Surveying his surroundings, he observed that the repeated impacts upon the building behind Shocker had loosened the foundation and made the concrete unstable. Thinking quick, he shot two webs, each slightly above Shocker's shoulders.

The taunt was evident in his voice. "You _missed._ "

"That's what you think." And with that, Peter tugged hard on the webs attached to the building and loose concrete buried Shocker up to his neck.

"So _watt_ do you say? Ready to return to prison?" Peter smiled as the cops arrived to take the man back to his cell.

Peter was about to leave when he noticed all the damage he caused during his fight. Peter had to stifle a groan at the sight, the Shocker had been trying to rob the former Avengers Tower. It was currently all cleared out of the Avenger's gadgets and anything related to Stark Industries, but Peter couldn't help but feel bad for whoever the new owners were. The building was not exactly looking great at this particular moment. Not only was the former Avengers tower damaged, but the buildings around it were totaled from the powerful blasts the Shocker had produced from his upgraded gauntlets. Peter winced, _so much for minimizing damage_. Hopefully he could get Tony to cover the repair costs, it helped having a billionaire as a mentor.

 _Crap._

Peter cursed at himself when he realized he still had left Happy waiting at his apartment. He jumped in the air and web-slung himself as fast as he could back to his apartment.

…..

Peter ran up to Happy with his bag hastily thrown over his shoulder, gasping for breath. "Happy…I'm so… so sorry. There… there was… this crazy Shocker dude… and I got caught up—"

Happy cut him off. "No time. Get in the car."

Peter mouth dropped wide open. Happy wasn't even going to complain for making him wait? That was new. The bodyguard never failed to let Peter know when he wasn't happy with the teen. Wordlessly, he nodded and climbed into the limo.

The drive to the Compound seemed longer than normal. Peter didn't know why, but he had a bad feeling in his chest. Even the weird buzzing sensation in his head had come back from earlier, only it wasn't as strong. This time, it was only a faint humming in the back of his mind that he only really noticed when he focused on it. Weird.

All in all, it reminded of his favorite Star Wars quote: _"I've got a bad feeling about this."_

And if Peter had learned anything from these movies, it was that bad feelings led to even worse consequences for the protagonists of the movie.

He just wished he knew what that meant for him.

…..

When he arrived at the Compound, Tony was waiting out front for him. _That was odd,_ Tony never waited outside, he just expected Peter to walk in and come find him in his lab. It was the man's way of saying Peter was welcome at the Compound anytime, that Peter didn't have to wait for permission to come in. Of course, Peter was an Avenger and it was the _Avenger's_ Compound, but that didn't keep Peter from being nervous about walking in. So, Tony's subtle invitation often gave Peter the confidence to make his way inside.

As he got closer to his mentor, Peter noted the look of worry on his mentor's face. To be frank, Tony looked like a mess. His hair was disheveled, clothes wrinkled, and a hand was constantly trying to rub the stress out of his forehead. Peter had never seen his mentor so put off by anything before. Tony Stark was the epitome of confidence and snark. The man in front of him seemed to be the exact opposite.

"What's going on Mr. Stark?"

Tony didn't say anything, he couldn't even look Peter in the eyes. Instead, his gaze remained locked on looking down at his hands.

"Are you okay?"

Tony took in a hitched breath, as if the question physically pained him.

"You need to _leave,_ Peter."

Peter could only stare at him in shock. _Leave?_ He just got here.

"What?"

 **So, here's a much longer chapter than normal :)**

 **I'm going to try to write about this much for future chapters.**

 **Have any of you guys seen Endgame yet? It was sooooo good. And if you guys want (and have seen Endgame because SPOILERS), you can check out one-shot I posed over Endgame last week called Goodbyes (and it's over 4,000 words, a new record for me :) ).**

 **Anyways, as usual, feel free to favorite and review! Thanks for reading!**


	8. I don't wanna go

"What?" Peter sputtered. There was no way he was leaving. He just got here! He didn't want to go home now after having Happy drive him all the way to the Compound.

"Just… Follow me." Mr. Stark said with resigned look on his face, something that Peter never expected to see from his mentor.

Reluctantly, Peter followed Mr. Stark through the corridors of the Compound. Each step he took seemed to echo ominously as he trailed behind his mentor. Peter couldn't help but think about the feeling of dread he had when driving here. A foreboding sense of uneasiness sunk deeper and deeper to the bottom of his gut as the walk dragged on longer and longer. Where exactly was he going anyways? He never knew the Compound could be so large, or maybe it was his increasing anxiety. Peter didn't know if he could handle this right now. His breathing became erratic, panic rising up the back of his throat. He was just so _nervous._ He had never seen the billionaire act this way before.

 _He was silent._

Mr. Stark was never silent, he was always doing something. Whenever Peter would work with him in the lab Tony would be doing something. His mentor would hum along to whatever music was on, tap his foot on the ground, or shift around in his chair every few seconds. The billionaire was never still, and when he wasn't focused on his work, he would start talking to anyone. Sometimes Mr. Stark would even talk to himself. Peter had asked him about his self-made conversations and Mr. Stark had told Peter that it helped him sort out his thoughts. Mr. Stark had even claimed that talking to himself had led to some of his greatest accomplishments and inventions.

It was so unnerving to see Mr. Stark act this way.

As Peter observed Mr. Stark closer, he realized that his mentor actually looked…..worried? That was odd. Mr. Stark always seemed to never have a care in the world. He was charismatic, yet aloof, which kept him from getting too attached to others. Nothing and no one could ever keep him down for too long. The only person that Peter has observed to be close to Mr. Stark has been Ms. Potts. And, maybe Happy. Peter wouldn't know, the only emotions he has seen Happy display towards others are rage and apathy. Both of which has been aimed at Peter. But the point was, Mr. Stark wasn't close to too many people.

So, what was up with his mentor? First of all, he's way too silent, and now he's worried? The world must be ending, because Ms. Potts wasn't in any danger and Peter literally just saw Happy, who dropped Peter off at the Compound. There's no reason for Mr. Stark to be so worried if the two people closest to him are fine. Peter paused in his train of thought.

Wait, Mr. Stark wasn't worried about Peter, _was he?_

 _He couldn't be_ , Peter reasoned with himself, _I'm not that important to him._ At, least Peter didn't think he was. Peter was just some kid that happened to be bit by a spider. Mr. Stark just mentored him so Peter wouldn't end up accidentally killing himself in some street fight in the alleyways of New York. Although Peter had started thinking of Mr. Stark as some sort of father figure, he didn't think of Peter as anything more than his student. That fact had been proven when Mr. Stark had dropped Peter off at his apartment with his limo.

 _How had I thought that he was going to hug me!?_ Peter still agonized over that incident. It had been a thoroughly embarrassing wake-up call. Just thinking about the event made Peter want to bang his head against the wall.

Anyways, the billionaire couldn't be worried about Peter.

He just couldn't be.

 _Actually_ , Peter theorized, _he's probably angry at me for messing up at something._ Peter always seemed to make so many mistakes, and screwed the pooch, as Mr. Stark liked to word it. Peter probably wrecked some sort of superheroing job and someone went to Mr. Stark about it. After all, Spider-man was the newest Avenger, and he has a responsibility to live up to the name. The only issue was, the media hated him (Specifically, the Daily Bugle. When Peter was looking at the hate articles, he happened to notice that most of them were from the same media company). No matter what Spider-Man did, the press found some way to twist it in their favor and make him look bad. Honestly, Peter wouldn't put it past them to publish an article that got Mr. Stark's attention.

The more Peter thought about it, the more he realized that was probably the reason Mr. Stark was worried. Peter probably screwed up in the media's eyes and they published something criticizing Spider-Man's actions. Then, his mentor probably read it and decided that Peter embarrassed the Avengers and ruined their perfect reputation. So, now Mr. Stark was going to lecture Peter on 'being responsible' and being 'better than him'. All of which Peter has heard _multiple_ times.

To be frank, he's tired of hearing it over and over and over again.

It's not that he doesn't respect Mr. Stark and he knows that he's just trying to help him become a better hero, but Peter knows that he has to be better.

 _Trust me_ , Peter thought bitterly to himself.

 _I know._

Not being good enough got his Uncle Ben killed. Not being good enough could be the difference whether he saves that kid down the street from a mugger, or that old lady from getting run over by a car, or that woman from getting shot in a bank robbery. Not being good enough could get Peter killed one day.

Literally, he almost got crushed by a building just last week.

He could have _died._

And he hates when Mr. Stark brings it up, because Peter knows.

And Peter hates that he knows.

Because being a superhero wasn't all that its cracked up to be.

It's _dangerous._

And now there's so much pressure on Peter to be the best and the perfect hero that Mr. Stark want him to be. He's an Avenger, and he has to live up to the name. Which thinking about it, was a pretty big mantle to live up to. Peter was just a teen, and he was prone to making mistakes. _A lot_ of them. He's made so, _so_ many mistakes in his life.

And Mr. Stark never fails to call him out on each and every one.

Each reprimand that Mr. Stark gives him reminds Peter of the fact that he isn't invincible. That any day a villain could beat him. That one day Peter might die.

That one day he may _lose._

And Peter _feared_ for that day.

Because Peter isn't perfect and he wouldn't be able to do anything to stop that day from happening.

He knows all this.

One way or another, every hero _falls._ It's all a part of the job, and sooner or later a hero's luck runs dry.

If only Peter knew that that day was coming.

It was inevitable.

And it was _soon._

…..

Tony was leading Peter back towards one of the back conference rooms in the Avenger's Compound. Tony had purposely made that area a dead zone for any surveillance specifically for circumstances like these. The dead zone would interrupt any listening devices that might have been planted on an Avenger and there's no cameras present in the room like all the others. Even F.R.I.D.A.Y. has no access to this room. No one could ever be too sure on who was listening, and Tony had learned the hard way that it was better to be safe than sorry.

Currently, this room was holding all the Secret Avengers. Evidently, the reason why a dead zone room was so important.

No one could know that they were here.

 _No one._

Tony couldn't risk Peter's safety, he was too important to him. There was no way Ross was going to take him from Tony. He wouldn't let him. Hence, why the Secret Avengers were here. He needed them to take Peter with them wherever they've been all this time. He needed them to take him somewhere Tony would never think of, or know the location of. That way, Tony would never have to watch Peter become Ross' personal lab rat. He knew Ross would pounce on the opportunity to take one of the things that Tony cared about most.

Of course, he could make Peter reveal his identity to the world like Ross had demanded of him, but he couldn't force Peter to do that. He knew how important his secret identity was to the kid. Peter's life would never be the same if he was forced to reveal his identity. The media would hound him everyday, and he would never have a 'normal' life again. Not that his life was all that normal anyways, considering he was an intern to the Tony Stark and he was Spider-Man, but he knew that Peter tried to live his life as normal as possible. Not only that, but he wasn't sure if his relationship with Peter would ever be the same if he forced Peter to come to a decision that he didn't want. Sure, Peter may forgive him in the long run, because that was just the kind of kid he was, but the resentment would live in his heart forever.

Just like how Tony has resentment for his own father.

And he didn't want that for the kid.

Not for _Peter._

He deserved _so_ much better than that.

Besides, Tony loved saying no to Ross' demands. It was an ongoing game he played, he wanted to see how tomato red he could Ross' face. It was honestly hilarious for Tony to watch Ross fumble around in rage.

Anyways, Peter had to leave and that was final.

There was no other choice.

Tony had gotten attached to the kid, which is something he should have expected in hindsight. Tony had gone into mentoring the kid just to keep him from getting himself killed with all his inexperience. The 'internship' was supposed to be giving the kid a new suit every once and awhile to protect him and give him some training. He wasn't supposed to get attached, but then the kid had wormed his way into Tony's heart of iron. The kid was just so….. innocent and had such a big heart. It made Tony want to take bubblewrap and wrap the kid up in it to protect the kid from all the dangers and perils he faced. The world didn't deserve someone like Peter.

Which was another reason why he was going.

He wouldn't let Ross rip the kid's innocence away.

Not for the kid he almost considered….. _a son._

There, Tony admitted it. He said the word. Never in a million years had Tony thought he would consider anyone in that light.

But, here he was, calling Peter a son.

So, now, he was going to have the others take Peter away to safety so Tony won't have to lose him.

 _Not today._

…..

" _What!_ I'm _not_ leaving New York!" Peter vehemently exclaimed to the group before him.

He pointed accusingly at the people in front of him. "And I'm especially not leaving with _these_ people! They're _fugitives_."

"And _he_ dropped an airport terminal on my head!" Peter glared at the resident 'American Hero'.

Mr. Stark simply sighed, he had been expecting this reaction. "Peter, this is for your own safety. I don't want you to leave either. But, if it's a choice between my desires and your safety. I will always choose your safety first. _Always_."

"But—" Peter stuttered, he had not been expecting _this._ "New York is my home! And what about school? What about Aunt May? I can't just leave. I have a _life_ here."

"Peter you're not going to _have_ a life anymore if Ross takes you away. All you have to do is go away for a little while I sort things out with the government. Once I fix everything then you can come back. I promise I'll try to get you back as soon as possible. You won't miss anything important, it's just for a little while." After his little speech, Mr. Stark gave Peter a half-hearted smile as if he was trying to convince himself of that rather than Peter.

"But—" Peter tried to protest again.

"No buts, I've already cleared everything with your school and aunt. Officially, you're on a 'Stark Internship' trip somewhere in Europe and Asia. Also, they've been told that it will an indefinite amount of time to complete as you are my top intern. Also, they've been told not to expect you to respond to any attempts of contact because the trip is strictly no social media. Speaking of which, hand over your phone kiddo."

"But I don't wanna go!" Peter finally blurted out in exasperation.

Mr. Stark's gaze softened. "I know, kid."

" _I know._ " Mr. Stark's voice choked up as if he was fighting tears.

The billionaire guided Peter over to the Secret Avengers in order to formally introduce Peter to everyone.

"Guys, this is Peter. Kid, these guys are going to keep you safe. No matter what, don't leave them. I'll find you when it's safe to come back."

"Hey, there son." Captain America rested a hand on Peter's shoulder. "We're going to do everything in our power to make sure you're back home as soon as possible. But until then, we'll look after you."

Peter's gaze was locked on the ground, he didn't want to look any the former Avengers in the eyes. He was just fighting them the other day! Weren't they the public enemy. But, slowly, Peter looked up to meet Captain America's eyes when he heard the sincerity in the man's voice. Surely Captain America couldn't be such a bad man if he was a hero of World War II.

"Okay." Peter reluctantly accepted the fact that he had to leave.

Suddenly, Tony clapped his hands together. "I almost forgot! Here, let me grab something." Mr. Stark walked over to two brief cases and threw one to Peter and the other to Captain America. "This is just something I put together for your little trip."

Peter opened his brief case to find a entirely new suit. This suit still had the main concepts of his original, the spider emblem in the center, spider-web pattern, and the same large white eye lenses. One of the main differences in this suit though was that it had no blue coloring, the only colors were red and black.

"This new suit is designed to help you blend in more and it has more features than your previous suits. For example, there's two stealth features, one that you can use to make the suit camouflage with your surroundings, and the other to make your suit completely black and it has gadgets for infiltration missions." Tony paused then continued on to describe Steve's upgrade.

"Steve, I just got you a new shield. You know, to replace the one I took from you. It's not the traditional circle that you're used to using, but it should work for most purposes in your trip. I did incorporate some Wakandan technology, so it will have some more tech than you are used to, old-timer." Tony glanced at the others in the room.

"Sorry I didn't have time to make the rest of you upgrades."

Falcon snorted and huffed under his breath. "Yeah right, everyone knows that you never sleep."

The Winter Soldier took that opportunity to elbow Falcon in the side.

And then, it was time to leave on the quinjet.

Peter wasn't ready.

"Wait."

Everyone paused and was shocked to look back to see Natasha standing next to Tony. No one had heard her walk in, but that was to be expected of a master spy and that wasn't what surprised the group. What surprised the group of heroes was that the Black Widow was no longer a red head. She had died her hair blonde. Platinum blonde.

"I'm coming with you."

Everyone just looked at each other and shrugged. When Natasha Romanoff wanted to do something, it was better just to let her do it. She could be terrify anyone with a single glance, and it was best not to know what she could do to a person with a single knife. Besides, the more the merrier right?

So, everyone boarded the quinjet until only Peter was left waiting on the ramp.

" _Please._ Don't make me go." Peter pleaded with Mr. Stark.

"You have to." It was a single statement, yet it held so much emotion.

"I _really_ don't wanna go." Peter tried one more time, hoping that the response would differ this time.

"I know you don't, but it's not forever alright?" A single tear slipped down the side of Tony's face contrasting the small sad smile he gave Peter.

"Promise me." It was a childish statement that was so like Peter to demand, making Mr. Stark let out a small chuckle at his youthful exuberance.

"Alright, I promise."

"Cross your heart?" Now, Peter was just delaying the inevitable.

"Cross my heart." Tony smiled once again at the teen's antics.

"I guess this is goodbye, huh?" Peter had a watery smile as he glanced back at the ship.

"I guess it is kiddo." Tony agreed sadly, but he had to remind himself it wasn't forever.

He just had to keep that in mind for the future.

 _It wasn't forever._

If only Tony knew what would happen, maybe he wouldn't have let Peter go.

But he didn't know what would happen, so the only thought he could cling to was, _it wasn't forever._

And all he could do was hope that he would see Peter again soon.

 **So, I hoped you guys liked this update! I think this is the quickest I've ever written a chapter of this length but that's probably because I'm leaving for vacation soon and I wanted to post an update before I left. So, all the stories I'm working on probably won't be updated for at least a few weeks because I wont have my laptop with me. But, I'll update as soon as I can.**

 **But if you guys want, you can check out my new story, One in 14,000,605, if you haven't already seen it.**

 **If you're interested, here's the summary: "Please, Dr. Strange don't make me do this anymore. I can't do this, I can't." Peter wanted to scream in agony. He can't deal with this again. Everyday he wakes up is a living nightmare. Please don't make him do this again. Please. Why does this have to be him?**

 **Anyways, Thanks for reading! Feel free to favorite and review!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own marvel**


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